ZOMBIES. FAST? SLOW? FAST? FAST? SLOW?

October 31, 2018

If you’re a fan of the zombie genre, as Paul is, there’s an important question that has always bothered him. Are zombies more frightening if they’re fast or slow?

I guess it’s frightening enough to be pursued by several ungainly burdensome creatures but to be chased by a bunch of tireless, bloodthirsty zombies that would give Usain Bolt a run for his money would be absolutely terrifying! The original concept, back in the day, was that they’re slow, cumbersome and awkward as they fumble around seeking nourishment from human flesh. But there has been a rise of the almost super human athlete zombies that appear in films like 28 Days Later, World War Z and the remake of Dawn of The Dead.

Yes, everything is up for interpretation but I don’t think that it’s what the master of all things zombie, the late great George A Romero, had in mind when he really got the genre ball rolling with The Night of The Living Dead.

The Walking Dead series seem to have the right balance where this is concerned. Yes there is a decent amount of gore for the die-hard horror fans but, more importantly, TWD has identifiable characters people can relate to even though their circumstances are a tad incredible.Humanity needs to have a chance of survival in order to keep the interest in the storyline of any zombie movie or series. Then it becomes a more interesting study of human nature when the apocalypse kicks in.

There always needs to be a hope of survival and if you can’t outrun the biters all hope is certainly lost and therefore you may as well just give up and join the horde.